Drop
by CeliaEquus
Summary: When large mechanical bees strike the Bus out of nowhere, both Phil and Johnny do a bit of falling. Literally. Warning: you might not be able to eat honey after this. Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Marvel, 'Fantastic Four', or 'Agents of SHIELD', nor am I making money from this. Rated to be safe.


**No real spoilers for 'Agents of SHIELD', but it helps if you've seen the first episode, so you know who the characters are. A couple of vague references to things in the episode 'FZZT', but that's it.**

"Drop"

Fitz was fanboying all over Reed Richards, and Phil knew for a fact that Simmons was secretly filming their interactions. It was more likely that she was simply fangirling internally, rather than collecting blackmail material, and was filming for preservation purposes. Science porn. God forbid they ever meet Tony Stark or Bruce Banner.

The Bus was transporting another mysterious object to the Sandbox; this time, a statuette which seemed to affect Aurora Borealis. The statuette had been discovered and neutralised by the Fantastic Four. Susan Richards was insightful enough to alert SHIELD, instead of letting her husband deal with it on his own. Ben Grimm had stayed on the ground. Considering the tension between Ben and Johnny Storm, this was just as well. Phil didn't want his Bus to be torn apart again; it would be embarrassing if it was because two superheroes just couldn't get along.

Of course, the fact that Johnny had tried flirting with May (he stopped quickly), Simmons (too distracted by his brother-in-law), and Skye (soon in conversation with Susan) didn't make things any easier. When he realised that no one was interested – and that Agent Ward was Johnny's definition of 'boring' – he began to bug Phil.

And then something hit the back of the Bus.

"Falling for me, Agent Coulson?" Johnny said. They'd stumbled, and Johnny had caught Phil before they fell into the wall. Phil silently huffed and then pushed himself out of Johnny's arms.

"You're worse than Tony Stark," he remarked.

"Worse than him? How?"

"He's in a committed relationship. That's cut down on the flirting, which makes him less annoying."

Johnny pouted, and Phil led him into the main area.

"Are those mechanical… bees?" Reed asked. Ward had already opened the deck, and they watched the swarm get closer.

"Big mechanical bees," Phil said. "Skye, go tell May we're gonna swat them. She'll know what to do."

"You have actual code names for destroying big mechanical bees?" Skye said. Phil stared her down. "Okay, I'm going."

"FitzSimmons, show me what you've got."

"They're getting pretty close," Johnny said, pointing.

"Yes. Thank you, Storm. Mrs. Richards, we need to keep them off for a few minutes."

"I'm on it," Susan said, and she walked towards the end of the deck, already forming what looked like mini hurricanes in her hands.

"Dude, just let me go and burn `em," Johnny said, trailing behind Phil as he followed the scientists into the lab.

"We will come up with a plan before dealing with this," Phil said, barely glancing back at the Human Torch. "Don't go hiving off, Storm."

"'Hiving off'. Cute. Really. But my way is fas—" Phil slammed him against the nearest wall, one arm across Johnny's chest and the other holding his right arm in place. "—ter."

"We do things as a team around here. We don't know what kind of mechanics are involved, whether they're after the statuette, or who sent them. Either way, we'll solve this problem and then deal with it. You keep your sister focussed and steady. We can't afford to have her distracted or thrown. Understand?"

Johnny didn't speak for about five seconds. Then he cleared his throat and nodded.

"Sure thing, AC," he said. Phil let him go.

"And remind me to have a word with Skye about spreading nicknames around," he muttered, before turning back to FitzSimmons and Reed.

* * *

Skye warned Johnny, through Ward, any time May was going to make an abrupt turn, so that Johnny could keep Sue on task. She maintained the force-field like a champ. Coulson came to check on them.

"Hi, honey," Johnny said, and he winked. He was having fun winding Coulson up. It seemed like it was going to be a hard case at first – something sure as hell got hard when the agent manhandled him earlier – but Johnny knew it wouldn't take long to get a reaction. He didn't know what kind of reaction he was after; he figured he'd know when he saw it.

"How's she doing?" Coulson asked, nodding towards Sue.

"Fine." Silence. "I'm doing okay, too."

"Good." Coulson turned around without even looking at Johnny, and was ten steps away when he turned back. "What did you say?"

"I'm doing okay."

"No, before that."

"Before…?"

"You called me 'honey'."

"Uh—"

"Yes." Coulson began to walk backwards. "Yes. That could be it. Thank you, Johnny."

As he turned back to face Sue, he felt a bit smug. At least Coulson was calling him 'Johnny' now.

His smile faded when he noticed the bees coming closer. There seemed to be more of them, and they were moving fast, faster than the Bus. They began to attack the edges of the force-field. As soon as Sue channelled more protection there, one of the bees took off and smashed through the middle, now the weakest part. Ward shot at it, but the bee just shook off the bullet. Johnny flamed it, which almost worked; but again, the robot shook it off like a dog after a bath.

"Same time!" Ward shouted. Johnny nodded, and they hit the bee at the same moment. The force knocked its head off, and the robot dropped to the ground.

"Tell your pilot to up the speed, and go straight ahead!" Johnny called to Skye. She raced back towards the cockpit. "Ward, gimme a gun and take that to the guys in the lab." He pointed at the robot. Ward threw his spare gun. It arced through the air and Johnny caught it. Sue had managed to spread out her power again so that there were no weak spots.

He heard that Simmons chick shriek, "Of course!" only seconds after Ward had taken the bee into the lab. Moments later, he noticed her run out, and then head down the hallway. Coulson burst through the door and made for the stairs to his office.

"Where are you going?" Johnny asked. Coulson waved off the question, and Johnny turned back to Sue. She was still holding up, but he wasn't sure for how much longer. He hoped the others were working hard on a solution, because there wasn't much he could do for his sister, without leaving her to get an energy bar or a juice box. Anything to give her a boost of energy. If Skye got back soon, maybe he could—

"Again, thanks for the idea," Coulson said, barrelling back down the stairs. He had what looked like a squeeze bottle of honey in his hand. He disappeared into the lab.

"Johnny…"

Right away, he noticed that Sue was blinking rapidly. He dropped the gun and grabbed her by the waist, and turned his head far enough to yell, "We need some of that honey here _now_! Susie's flagging!"

With a quiet pulse, Sue shoved the bees away in a wave of energy. Johnny heard running, and saw Simmons approaching. She had an armful of more bottles of honey. What the hell was wrong with these people?

"Wait here," Johnny said quietly, leaning Sue against the red car. Then he ran over to Simmons and grabbed one of the bottles. She looked over his shoulder.

"Uh, your sister…"

Johnny swung around, and noticed that Susan had sunk to the floor, and was gradually sliding towards the end of the deck. He sprinted back to her side and grabbed her barely a yard from the edge. There were shouts behind them, but Johnny was too busy uncapping the bottle to notice them. He shoved it under Sue's nose.

"You gotta have some, sis," he said, helping her sit up. "C'mon." He pushed her to the side, and squeezed some of the honey just inside her mouth. "Swallow, Susie. You can do it. Just do this for me, and we can get back to work, okay?"

"Storm, behind you!"

Johnny looked up, and saw a mechanical bee heading straight for him.

* * *

Phil should have known that it would be too much of a strain on Susan. Thank God Johnny had mentioned honey to him. FitzSimmons agreed that it could be the answer, the one weakness the bees had. Their creator obviously had a sense of irony. Honey-coated ammunition was risky, but it would have to do. They were pressed for time.

Most of the bees were still lagging behind, thanks to Susan's last-minute push. But one of them must have been hiding under the Bus, or just far enough away, that it appeared virtually out of nowhere, and was heading for Johnny. Phil had already found and loaded smaller ammunition into his handgun. There was no time to unload, coat, and reload. It was crude, but he squeezed honey directly down the nozzle, and hoped that SHIELD's advanced technology would come through for him.

Johnny flamed the bee, but Ward had already told him that it was only a temporary measure. Phil aimed for the body of the robot.

Before he could squeeze the trigger, the bee darted forward the second that Johnny's head was turned. It hit him, hard, and Johnny swivelled around. Another bee appeared from below. Phil was already on the move. He took out one of the robots, and was ready to fire on the other when it hit Johnny on the back of the head, same place as before. Johnny teetered towards the end of the deck. A flame flickered on the tips of his fingers, before it died, and he fell over the edge.

Phil shot the other robotic bee and ran for a parachute. He tossed the gun in Ward's general direction, and pulled on the straps of the chute.

"He can fly," Susan said, voice faint.

"Not while he's unconscious," Phil said. Then he dived off the Bus and hurtled down after Johnny.

If Johnny awoke while they were in mid-air, there was a serious danger that he could burn Phil. He was clearly still out of it, which gave Phil enough time to grab him around the waist and pull him close. They were clear of the bees, who seemed far more interested in the Bus. That was a relief. Fighting them off now would be a distraction.

Johnny was still hanging limply in his arms. Phil wrapped one leg behind Johnny's knees, the other around his ankles. They were still far above sea level, but he didn't feel comfortable deploying the parachute until Johnny was aware of the situation.

Phil was good at improvising. In this case – and he would stick to his decision later – the only possible solution was to kiss Johnny. If Johnny was under the impression that he was being kissed awake by a lover, he was less likely to turn into a fireball. So, like some twisted kind of fairytale, Phil captured Johnny's mouth with his own, easily prised his lips apart, and went to town. It only took three seconds before Johnny began to reciprocate. Phil broke the kiss abruptly, and Johnny's eyes opened.

"Well, hello there," he said. "Didn't expect to see—"

"I'm about to activate our parachute, Storm."

"What?" He looked around, and his eyes widened. "Holy—"

Phil pulled on the cord, and the material unfurled behind him. Johnny squirmed until he was holding Phil octopus-style. It wasn't actually uncomfortable, Phil was surprised to admit (to himself). Their descent slowed immediately. Now that the wind was no longer rushing in his ears, Phil could hear the sounds of fighting far above them.

"If I let go of you now, will you have time to get back up there and help?" he asked. Johnny twisted his head – presumably to see the ocean – and then nodded.

"It's definitely doable," he said.

"Good. See you later." And Phil let him go.

"Flame on!" Johnny burst into fire and flew away. Phil smiled softly.

(His lips still tingled.)

He was jerked from his musings, and wondered, just for a moment, whether the bees had reached him. But he looked up, and raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" he said. "The flames could eat through the wires."

"Nah," Johnny said, grinning. "I can control it. We need all hands on deck. Hold on, honey."

"I'll give you 'honey' later," Phil muttered. Despite the winds, Johnny heard.

"All over, I hope," he said. "It's lots of fun licking it off. And now I know for a fact that you're good with your tongue."

* * *

Much later, both hands on desk – Phil's desk, to be exact, and that wasn't a euphemism – Johnny privately admitted that the agent definitely knew how to use his tongue.

"You won this round," Johnny said. Phil's eyes were glinting as he sat back in his chair, the shine of honey still smeared around his lips and on his chin. He had every right to smirk. "But I'll show you just how creative I can get with a bottle of the sticky stuff."

"I hope so," Phil said.

* * *

**And no one will be able to have honey on their toast after reading this story. Oops.**

**This blew out of proportion (so to speak). Another of those Johnny/Phil fics inspired by an episode of 'AOS'. In this case, the idea of Johnny falling out of the Bus, and only Phil notices that he's been knocked out, so he jumps after Johnny to rescue him. Then, mid-fall, he kisses Johnny to wake him up safely. Yep. It's as good an excuse as any (and the only one Phil would be willing to put in a report).**

**Please review!**


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